Hazed
by Celestriakle
Summary: Lucent takes revenge for a crime committed against him, but Jackle's explanation for his actions takes him off-guard. Jackle x Lucent. One shot.


(Shirona, a Pokemon trainer, and Jackle are roommates. At one point, Jackle owned a harem consisting of Lucent, his brothers (Nitrine and Lyall), and some young humans (the Shinjis). Lucent and his brothers are all sons of Reala.

Lucent: celestriakle. deviantart .com/art/Lucent-189966846

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Shirona was gone, out to meet some battler's challenge.

Jackle slept, napping away the afternoon.

Lucent's timing could not have been more perfect.

Ceasing to touch even the ground, he floated inside, into the bedroom. Jackle laid on his belly splayed across the bed; he didn't even bother to get under the covers. Lucent sneered. Disgusting. Here lay a fine example of a maren who did not deserve the life he was given. Floating down, he carefully unclasped and removed Jackle's cape; with that gone, he could ensure a handicap upon the older maren's ability to fight back. With the cloth carefully folded into his arms, he left the room, headed for the stove in Shirona's kitchen. If the maren clothes he usually saw were of any indication, this thing would probably be pretty difficult to burn, but he came prepared. He shook some powder over the cape, a fuel that would make the fire burn hotter, then set it upon the burners. One by one, fires appeared and began to fill the kitchen with smoke.

Jackle shuddered, gasping to wakefulness. Immediately, he became aware of two things: The vulnerability resulting from the loss of his cape, and the acrid scent of smoke filling the apartment. He leaped from bed and rushed into the hall, following the scent to its source. He and Shirona had played some cruel pranks on each other and his cape had definitely been a target more than once, but surely she wouldn't take it so far that she would... There it was; the cape burning on the stove and no one in sight. Leaping over the island, he dove for his cloak, only to be intercepted by a flash of black, blonde, and white. Before he hit the ground, he glimpsed that little area enclosed by the fridge, counter, and cabinet which hid away his assailant. Damn.

They hit the ground hard; Jackle grunted, semi-stunned from being sandwiched between Lucent and the ground. Lucent took advantage of this moment to securely pin Jackle. He grinned, infinitely pleased with how well his plan had panned out. He chuckled a bit, and his heart pounded from the rush of power he felt and an acute awareness of how fragile this role reversal was. "There..."

Jackle thrashed beneath Lucent's hold, never able to raise his limbs more than half an inch. Despite his advantage in height, weight, and experience, there was a reason he was still considered a second level: Without his cape, he was pathetically weak. With a flutter of panic, he glanced towards the rising flames atop the stove. "LET ME GO!" he bellowed.

"NO!" Lucent slammed Jackle's struggling limbs back down. "But wait, dear Uncle," he spat the words, injecting the name with more venom than any snake, "don't those cries sound familiar?"

Jackle froze, thinking back. "...The harem. You're angry about the harem."

Lucent's anger flared at the casual, nonchalant tone Jackle had adopted. "Yes, yes I'm angry about THAT. What you did was wrong, and I think you deserve to feel some of the pain that we did." He twisted his hand, and his fingerknives buried themselves in Jackle's invisible flesh.

Jackle cried out in pain and writhed under Lucent's grip. Desperately, he shouted, "_I did it for you!_"

"Bullshit!" Lucent twisted his claws and could see a stream of Jackle's blood gathering below the wound, visible through the transparent flesh. Jackle cried out again.

"I-it's the truth! Give me a chance to explain, please!"

To Jackle's shock, Lucent listened. He withdrew his knives from the other maren's flesh and looked down at him contemptuously. What possible straw could Jackle have grasped at in order to try and lessen his punishment? "Make it quick."

"I'll admit, I only had the Shinjis because I wanted some servants. Lyall and Nitrine though... I got them because I wanted to lure you in. I noticed the only time you come is to visit your brother, so I thought that if I took them, you would come to. And you did."

"I don't understand. How was any of this _for _me? If you really went to all that trouble, then why was I the first one released?"

Jackle snorted, but refrained from any more commentary at the sensation of the tips of the knives moved across his invisible skin. "Don't you get it? Didn't you ever notice how you never had to do any of the chores the other boys had to do? Their slave work was never yours? If you still don't get it, then here, let me spell it out: I. Fell. For. You. I wanted to keep you with me, but when I saw what it did you you, I realized my error and let you go. Satisfied?"

Lucent mulled this information over, slowly settling into a decidedly confused expression. "...That doesn't make what you did any less wrong." With reflex speed, he twisted his hands and dragged them in, creating long lines of gashes all along Jackle's arms and chest, then warped away.

Jackle let out a cry of pain, but that faded into his characteristic maniacal laughter as he clutched his wounds. Getting up, he walked to the stove where his cape lay in ashes. Despite being in pain and unprotected, he wore his grin wide. Every nerve tingled with a vivid awareness of how much worse Lucent could have made it.


End file.
